Documentation

Supported Service Types

ArcGIS Feature Server
A feature service allows clients to query and edit features. Features include geometry, attributes, and symbology and are organized into layers and subtypes within a layer. The GeoServices REST Specification Feature Service resource provides basic information about the feature service: the feature layers and tables that it contains, the service description, and so on.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>agsfeatureserver</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the ArcGIS Service REST endpoint
Scored Test: FeatureLayerQuery
Example: <serviceUrl>http://cloud.insideidaho.org/ArcGIS/Services/structure/structures/MapServer/FeatureServer</serviceUrl>

ArcGIS Image Server
An image service provides access to published imagery. Image services support two views of the published imagery: a mosaicked image view and a raster catalog view. A raster catalog is a collection of raster datasets defined in a table format in which each record represents an individual raster dataset in the catalog. The GeoServices REST Specification Image Service resource returns information about imagery exposed through a web service, such as the imagery's extent, pixel sizes, and band counts. This resource also returns the accessible fields of the image service.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>agsimageserver</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the ArcGIS Service REST endpoint
Scored Test: ImageExport
Example: <serviceUrl>http://imagery.nconemap.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Hurricane_Irene_NCDOT_imagery_083011/ImageServer</serviceUrl>

ArcGIS Map Server
Map services offer access to map and layer content. A map service can either fulfill requests with pre-created tiles from a cache or by dynamically rendering the map each time a request comes in. Map services using a tile cache can significantly improve performance when returning maps, while dynamic map services offer more flexibility. The GeoServices REST Specification Map Service resource provides basic information about the map, including the layers that it contains; whether the map has a tile cache; and the map's spatial reference, initial and full extents, map units, and copyright text. It also provides some metadata associated with the service such as its service description, its author, and keywords. If the map is cached, additional information about its tiling scheme, such as the origin of the cached tiles, the levels of detail, and tile size, is included.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>agsmapserver</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the ArcGIS Service REST endpoint
Scored Test: MapExport
Example: <serviceUrl>http://navigator.state.or.us/ArcGIS/rest/services/Framework/Hydro_GeneralMap/MapServer</serviceUrl>

CSW
CSW (Catalog Service for the Web) is a standard for exposing a catalogue of geospatial records on the Internet (over HTTP). CSW is one part (or "profile") of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalog Service, which defines common interfaces to discover, browse, and query metadata about data, services, and other potential resources. The catalogue is made up of metadata records that describe these types of data: geospatial data (e.g. KML), geospatial services (e.g. WMS), other related resources.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>csw</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the GetCapabilities URL
Scored Test: getRecordById
Example: <serviceUrl>http://data.nconemap.com/geoportal/csw/discovery?Request=GetCapabilities&Service=CSW&Version=2.0.2</serviceUrl>

ESRI ArcIMS Image - Arc Internet Map Server
ArcIMS Arc Internet Map Server is a Web Map Server produced by Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute). It is a GIS that is designed to serve maps across the Internet. Sometimes these maps are just static images allowing simple panning and zooming, while others are more complex pages. Examples of interactive maps served with ArcIMS include maps with layers that can be turned on and off, or with features containing attributes that can be queried. A visitor to a site driven by ArcIMS needs nothing more than a web browser: the GIS and database are maintained on the server side.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>image</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the ArcIMS service URL
Scored Test: getImage
Example: <serviceUrl>http://minemaps.ky.gov/servlet/com.esri.esrimap.Esrimap?ServiceName=availablemaps</serviceUrl>

OPeNDAP - Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol
The Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) is a data transport architecture and protocol widely used by earth scientists. The protocol is based on HTTP and is a data transport medium that allows access and subseting of data across the internet.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>opendap</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with a catalog URL
Scored Test: getData
Example: <serviceUrl>http://data.nodc.noaa.gov/thredds/catalog.html</serviceUrl>

SOS - Sensor Observation Service
The Open Geospatial Consortium Sensor Observation Service (SOS) is a web service to query real-time sensor data and sensor data time series and is part of the Sensor Web. The offered sensor data comprises descriptions of sensors themselves, which are encoded in the Sensor Model Language (SensorML), and the measured values in the Observations and Measurements (O & M) encoding format. The web service as well as both file formats are open standards and specifications of the same name defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). If the SOS supports the transactional profile (SOS-T), new sensors can be registered on the service interface and measuring values be inserted. A SOS implementation can be used both for data from in-situ as well as remote sensing sensors. Furthermore, the sensors can be either mobile or stationary.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>sos</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the GetCapabilities URL
Scored Test: getObservation
Example: <serviceUrl>http://opendap.co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/ioos-dif-sos/SOS?service=SOS&request=GetCapabilities&version=1.0.0</serviceUrl>

WAF - Web Accessible Folder
A Web Accessible Folder (WAF) is a simple directory of files on a web server that can be accessed by users with a web browser, indexed by Google and other search engines, and harvested by portals such as Geo.Data.Gov or Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) or other freely available utilities (e.g. wget, rsync). WAFs provide a straightforward approach to build and maintain a repository or cache of metadata XML files in any format.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>waf</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered to the web URL location where the metadata files exist
Scored Test: validateWAFContents
Example: <serviceUrl>http://coris.noaa.gov/metadata/records/xml/</serviceUrl>

WCS - Web Coverage Service
The Open Geospatial Consortium Web Coverage Service Interface Standard (WCS) defines Web-based retrieval of coverages - that is, digital geospatial information representing space/time-varying phenomena. A WCS provides access to coverage data in forms that are useful for client-side rendering, as input into scientific models, and for other clients. The WCS may be compared to the OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) and the Web Map Service (WMS). As WMS and WFS service instances, a WCS allows clients to choose portions of a server's information holdings based on spatial constraints and other query criteria. WCS uses the coverage model of the OGC GML Application Schema for Coverages. Thus, WCS supports all coverage types supported by said Application Schema; it is not constrained to quadrilateral grid coverages like previous WCS versions.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>wcs</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the GetCapabilities URL
Scored Test: GetCoverage
Example: <serviceUrl>http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/atlas_north?service=WCS&request=GetCapabilities</serviceUrl>

WFS - Web Feature Service
The Open Geospatial Consortium Web Feature Service Interface Standard (WFS) provides an interface allowing requests for geographical features across the web using platform-independent calls. One can think of geographical features as the "source code" behind a map, whereas the WMS interface or online mapping portals like Google Maps return only an image, which end-users cannot edit or spatially analyze. The XML-based GML furnishes the default payload-encoding for transporting the geographic features, but other formats like shapefiles can also serve for transport. In early 2006, the OGC members approved the OpenGIS GML Simple Features Profile. This profile is designed to both increase interoperability between WFS servers and to improve the ease of implementation of the WFS standard.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>wfs</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the GetCapabilities URL
Scored Test: GetFeature
Example: <serviceUrl>http://nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/mapserver/wfs/fgdcgubsblockgroup?version=1.0.0&service=WFS&request=GetCapabilities</serviceUrl>

WMS - Web Map Service
A Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service (WMS) is a standard protocol for serving georeferenced map images over the Internet that are generated by a map server using data from a GIS (Geographic Information System) database. The specification was developed and first published by the Open Geospatial Consortium in 1999.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>wms</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the GetCapabilities URL
Scored Test: GetMap
Example: <serviceUrl>http://watersgeo.epa.gov/ArcGIS/services/OWRAD/ALL_OWRAD_NAD83/MapServer/WMSServer?request=GetCapabilities&service=WMS</serviceUrl>

Z39.50
A standard client/server-based protocol for searching and retrieving information from remote databases. The term "Z39.50" refers to the International Standard, ISO 23950: "Information Retrieval (Z39.50): Application Service Definition and Protocol Specification," and to ANSI/NISO Z39.50.
Specify these service types in ATOM Feed as: <serviceType>z3950</serviceType>
Valid Registration: Service should be registered with the machine name, port and database
Scored Test: SearchSpatial
Example: <serviceUrl>z3950s://150.191.80.62:210/NTSDD</serviceUrl>

Service Feeds

What is a service feed?

The Service Status Checker requires an ATOM service feed. This is an XML file containing a list of all the services you would want to be tested. The Service Status Checker will read your service feed and retrieve each service to be tested and scored. Please view the documentation for a list of the currently supported service types.

The service feed needs to be in the following format. Duplicate the tag for each service that you want the Service Status Checker to test and score.

Feed Pagination

Various feed generating catalogs, such as ESRI's GeoPortal, support the ability to provide a number of records in paginated chunks. For instance, if there's a feed with 10,000 service records, it can be ingested by the Service Status Checker with small requests rather than a large single request. For example, the first request returns 10 records, the next request would return the next set of 10, and so on until all records within the feed have been retrieved.

Below is a description of each field required for the Service Status Checker to request your paginated feed.NOTE: If you're using ESRI's GeoPortal for your feed, this is already availible out-of-the box.

Requests to the Feed:

start: Index for which record to start the returned page

max: Maximum number of records that can be returned with each request

Fields Returned:

startIndex: Index of the first record on page

totalResults: Total number of records in feed

Here's an example call the Service Status Checker will make to your paginated feed:http://www.example.com/services/feed?max=10&start=0

To enable this feature, go to your Service Feeds within the Control Panel. When registering a feed, be sure to check "PAGINATION". If you wish to enable this feature for an existing feed, search for your feed in your list and be sure to check the "PAGINATION" option. Please allow up to 24 hours once the change has been made for your service totals to be reflected.

ATOM Feed Registration

Log into your account

Under the 'Service Lists' section, register your ATOM service feed by clicking on the "Add New Service List" button.

Within this list, you're able to edit any of the information, turn 'SYNC' on or off, and remove the service feed if it no longer is available

The 'SYNC' option allows you to tell the Service Status Checker whether or not your list of services (ATOM service feed) is ready for processing. If this is turned off, the Service Status Checker will not process any information from your service feed; however, the services previously obtained will still be tested and reported. If this option remains turned on, the Service Status Checker will continue to process the services listed and make any service information modifications if needed before testing.

Service Scoring

The Service Status Checker carries out a set of standard tests on each service type. One of these tests gets scored for Speed performance and
reliability.

Speed performance (currentSpeed) is simply the time taken in seconds to do the test

Reliability (currentScore) is calculated as a factor of the Speed performance and the correctness of the response.

The Service Status Checker returns these scores in the summary section of the returned XML response.

Client Implementations

Geo.Data.Gov

Geo.Data.Gov has evolved from the Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) portal and catalog to increase awareness and provide access to geospatial data and services that are generated by the Executive Branch of the United States Federal Government.

Service Status Checker Usage:

Search results in Geo.Data.Gov are integrated with the Service Status Checker scores. When users are presented with search results, they are provided with a bar graph that displays the "health" of that service. Clicking on the bar graph provides the user with a detailed report of the service's health and availability.

The search results are integrated through a REST API. Geo.Data.Gov programmers integrated API calls to the Service Status Checker during the presentation of search results so the scores of the services are provided real time.

GeoSUR

The GeoSUR Portal provides an entry point to spatial data published by Latin American and Caribbean agencies. The data may be consulted directly by means of partner map services, a regional map viewer contained in this portal or through various metadata services.

Service Status Checker Usage:

The GeoSUR project publishes an ATOM feed of all of its OGC services for the Status Checker to regularly test.

The portal provides several pages (WMS Services, WFS Services and CSW Services) where all of the partner services are listed along with their Service Status Checker scores. Each service is linked to a full report of the test results.

Spain IDEC

Catalonia's Spatial Data Infrastructure contains the IDEC Support Center that provides the technical basis for the organization, promotion, exploitation and maintenance of the spatial data infrastructure, with the purpose of promoting geo-information and related services, making them more accessible in order to assure their shared use.

Service Status Checker Usage:

IDEC provides an ATOM feed of their services to the Services Status Checker for regularly service monitoring.

IDEC staff receive a daily email report from the Service Status Checker that summarizes the monitoring status and scores.

USGS VegDRI

VegDRI, short for Vegetation Drought Response Index, is a drought-monitoring tool developed by scientists at the USGS EROS in collaboration with the National Drought Mitigation Center and the High Plains Regional Climate Center, with sponsorship from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency. VegDRI maps, produced every two weeks, combine satellite-based observations of vegetation conditions with climate and environmental data to provide drought information for the conterminous United States.

Service Status Checker Usage:

The VegDRI project provides an ATOM feed of their services to the Services Status Checker for regularly service monitoring.

VegDRI staff receive a daily email report from the Service Status Checker that summarizes the monitoring status and scores. Staff use this daily report to ensure all services are operational for their web mapping application.

REST API

The following information explains to developers how to interact with the API and provides an example request and response using the GET method.

API Resources

results API: Returns the health service data for a service(s) contained in your service feed. The data is returned from the previous set of tests that was performed in the last 24 hours.

liveTest API: Returns the health service data for any service. These services do not have to be contained in your service feed. This allows for an immediate "live" test of any service for which you provide the URL.

API Key Request

The Service Status Checker can test and provide health and quality information about your geospatial services.

Example Request and Response

Request a live test:https://statuschecker.fgdc.gov/api/v2/liveTest?auth=<API-KEY>&type=wms&url=http://gisweb.unr.edu/ArcGIS/Services/Quaternary_Faults2/MapServer/WMSServer?request=GetCapabilities&service=WMS
This URL returns the following JSON response: